Days of Ruin: The Underground
by SkyFighter
Summary: It was our ancestor's mistake, but we ultimately paid the price for it. Now we live in the ruins of times and dreams past while the Pokemorphs live the lives of luxury that our fathers lived. Then why are we the ones paying the price..?
1. Prologue: Reversal of Roles

**CHAPTER ONE: Prologue: Reversal of Roles

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**A/N: Hello guys! Yes I'm still alive. And with a new story to boot. **

**As you probably are all familiar with, 95% of stories about Pokemorphs are about how they were mistreated and alienated from society, or how people were forcefully experimented on (by Team Rocket or some other psychopathic group) and turned into morphs. Well I want to do something a little different. Say the Pokemorphs are the bad guys for once. What if they had all but crushed humanity under their foot, paw, or other appendage? What would life as a surviving human be like? What challenges would he face? But I digress... Anyway, this story is set in the real world (yes, our world), and is inspired by Johto Gunner004's _"Humanity's Last Hope."_ Hope you guys enjoy reading it.**

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Life's about choices; each one having consequences. Sometimes the consequence is good, other times bad; but it's very hard to see what the consequence will be until after the choice is made. In this case, our ancestors made a bad choice, and humanity as a whole suffered for it.

The year is 2042, and humanity lives in shambles of its former glory. All because of our ancestor's ignorance. But perhaps that's getting ahead of myself. I'll start from the beginning.

Sometime during the 13th century, creatures known as Pokemorphs were discovered on Earth by English farmers. These creatures had the appearance of a pokemon, but were also similar to humans in many regards, most notably the fact that they were bipedal and spoke in human languages. Though peaceful creatures by nature, they were feared as monsters and many were slain by knights of the time. Many morphs died because people assumed instead of rationalizing and as a result, bitter seeds were sown between the human race and Pokemorphs.

In the beginning of the 18th century, people changed tactics against the Morphs and instead chose to isolate the them from human settlements altogether. They kept them in fenced "preserves" on unwanted scraps of land away from civilization with little food or fresh water, further widening the rift between Pokemorphs and humanity as many morphs died from dehydration, hunger, or disease.

Upon the discovery of the New World, many settlers took Pokemorphs as slaves and forced them to build homes and fortifications and to work in the fields. The enslavement of Pokemorphs by the European settlers and later Americans continued in the United States until the end of the Civil War in which all slavery was barred across the nation. However, Morphs were still considered grossly inferior by the general public, and the mistreatment continued until the First World War when an important discovery was made.

Leaders of the Axis Powers of WWI quickly realized the potential Morphs had as soldiers and began forcing them to fight for their cause. They had more specialized senses according to their species and knew the same moves as their pokemon counterparts—only weaker. Upon this monumental discovery, the allies began equipping their soldiers with a variety of pokemon to help defend against the threat. However, it was soon realized that carrying pokemon with soldiers just wasn't enough. Although pokemon moves proved vastly superior to Morph moves in combat, Morphs didn't have to have their commands relayed to them to fight, giving them an upper-hand provided they weren't injured by the initial attack.

The Allies quickly made the decision to offer the Morphs equal treatment in exchange for fighting for their cause. The morphs hastily agreed, and were quickly added to human regiments to supplement the Allies' forces. Many such morphs ended up killed in action, but many others gained fame and recognition as soldiers, greatly boosting the public image of the creatures.

At the end of the World Wars, Morphs were treated better, but "equality" between humans and Pokemorphs wouldn't come until the 1970s when activists, both human and Morph demanded full rights for Pokemorphs. The movement swept across the world and by 1977, morphs were desegregated from humans completely. For the first time since their discovery, equality between the two races had been achieved and it seemed like it would last forever, but it didn't last.

Sometime around the year 1998, a group of Pokemorphs began to wonder why they were living among "inferior lifeforms" like humans and pokemon. Humans didn't have their ability to use pokemon attacks or (in some cases) improved senses or intelligence. And Pokemon couldn't do many of the things Pokemorphs could do with their human characteristics. Why should they have to share a planet with such "inferior beings"?

The idea spread rapidly among the Pokemorph community, but world leaders dismissed it as "youthful and meaningless propaganda", saying that it would blow over with time. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Morphs began moving away from the human cities en mass and starting their own Morph-only towns across the world. The mass-move out should have been a sign to the world of an impending crisis, but once again, world leaders dismissed it and in fact some encouraged it.

In the year 2002, Morph cities secretly began forming militias. When Russian counter-espionage agents alerted the world of this, the UN denounced the Pokemorphs' forming of private militias in secrecy and threatened action, but the Pokemorphs continued to raise their own militias. After issuing repeated warnings to the Morphs, the United States of America made a move to stop the morphs and issued Order 4626 in November of 2005 telling the Pokemorphs in America to disband their militias within 90 days or risk military action.

Just as it seemed that Order 4626 would work, several civil rights groups filed a joint-suit against the US government claiming that the Pokemorphs had a right to form their own militias since they were just "protecting their homes". After a calamitous debate in the Supreme Court, he rights' groups won the suit, and Order 4626 was repealed just 40 days after being issued. Upon the repealment of Order 4626, Pokemorphs rejoiced and stopped the disarmament and dismantling of their militias. But the fact that they were threatened with military action also caused them as a whole to build up their militias even faster. Distrust between the two races was now at an all-time high.

Then for the next six years, tension between the Pokemorphs and humans seemed to be moved to the back burner. Despite the fact that the Pokemorphs were still building up their military equipment, the media—and thus, the public—grew numb to this threat. A threat that was greater than anyone imagined. Under the guise of festive conventions, some radical Pokemorph leaders on the Eurasian continent secretly planned to lead a unified attempt to overthrow the world's human governments (Article #66A2V709. US GOV'T ARCHIVES. Declassified: 18 May, 2014.). When conservative Pokemorph leaders attempted to warn the world of what the radical leaders were planning, panic ensued, and the world economy fell into a recession at the end of 2012 (Article #66A2V708. US GOV'T ARCHIVES. Declassified 18 May, 2014.).

Once again, the impending conflict with the Pokemorphs were forced to the back burner as world leaders tried to revive the death-spiraling economy. However, the recession deepened despite the world's best efforts.

Seeing that their chance for attack had come, the Pokemorphs, who made up a substantial portion of the overall life on earth and led by their radical leaders, finally made their move in Asia, attacking on Christmas Day, 2013 with lethal efficiency. Though slightly anticipated by many countries of the world, the attack came as a complete surprise on one of the world's most widely celebrated holidays. The pokemorphs quickly overran a substantial portion of the continent, with the main force driving from the Gulf of Thailand through western China and Kazakhstan as far as Moscow in a matter of 3 weeks. Though the force probably was only around 150,000 strong, the besieged countries didn't anticipate the morphs in their own cities siding with the uprising. The morphs in the cities cut communication lines, disabled roads, scrambled or stole missile silo codes, and destroyed railways and airport runways, severely limiting the countries' ability to counterattack.

The radical morphs quickly established an HQ in a massive morph-only megalopolis south of the captured Chinese city, Urumqi. While the UN held one emergency meeting after another on what to do with the uprising, the surviving armies of the attacked Asian nations struggled to counterattack against the radical morphs, who were rapidly gaining support from their kin, but were increasing in their weapon manufacturing as well. However, continued guerrilla warfare by the morphs loyal to the radical cause greatly hampered human forces.

Over the next thirty-some years, the Morph Army destroyed almost every human country, leaving the survivors for dead. For the most part, only scattered resistance groups comprised of humans and morphs who didn't side with the radical alliance remain. Though the Morph Army has taken much of the world, large areas of conflict still remain, some areas the size of whole countries. Talk about a reversal of roles. We now live in poverty-stricken, bombed-out buildings that the Morphs left behind, while they live in comfort in the cities they built up form the ruins of our hopes and dreams. They don't have to worry about where their next meal will come from. They get to drink clean water instead of this brackish stuff we are forced to drink. They keep pokemon as pets and keep a few "lucky" humans as slaves. They actually _have_ healthcare systems, while disease runs rampant through our settlements. It often seems like it is only a matter of time before we fall prey to either starvation, disease, or eachother.

My name is Jim Matthews. I'm one of the many people and pokemon who live in the ruins of Marthas Vineyard Island, Massachusetts of what is formerly the United States. I'm 16, and one of the few who actually have family members left. I live in a world where you are always looking over your shoulder. People will mug you for a simple loaf of bread or a bottle of fresh water where I live. As that implies, teamwork is very scarce, but I can testify that it does exist although it's very much survival of the fittest here. I'm also one of the few who is brave enough to venture into the nearby Pokemorph cities on the mainland for supplies. I've had more than my share of close calls just picking things out of the trash, nevermind actually swiping something from the Morphs (I've done that too)! But I'm still alive, that's the important thing.

And as long as there's life there's hope...

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**A/N: Doesn't sound too good for humanity, does it? Next chapter introduces Jim Matthews.**


	2. A Trip to Falmorph

**CHAPTER TWO:**** A Trip to Falmorph City**

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**A/N: **Hello guys! I'm back with another new chapter! This chapter gets a little graphic towards the end, so it may not be for the faint of heart, but it really isn't too bad. Anyway, thanks to those who reviewed my last chapter. It is appreciated greatly. Alright, so without further ado, here's the next chapter: A Trip to Falmorph!

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DATE: 07/04/2042

TIME: 1700hrs. (5:00pm)

WEATHER: Fair

NAME: Jim Matthews

AGE: 16

RACE: Human

LOCATION: Falmorph, MA, former United States.

I poked my head out from the alleyway to check that the coast was clear. A lone Pikachu-morph wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans was walking on the far sidewalk, but his back was turned to me and it appeared that he hadn't noticed me... yet.

I had a difficult decision to make: wait for him to have walked out of sight before crossing, or try my luck and try to sneak to the alleyway across the street without alerting him to my presence. Either way had its risks. If I waited, more morphs could come along and I'd for sure have to wait longer; but if I went now, he could possibly hear me and then... ZAP! Sizzle city! Damn, I hate having to make choices like this!

I poked my head out again to see what the Pikachu-morph was doing. He had stopped walking and was sniffing the air now with his long ears perked. Things just got a heck of a lot more difficult!

I considered backtracking and taking another route through Falmorph, but that would take time. And it was getting late, and I needed to get those supplies and be at least to the catacombs by nightfall! I quietly looked out from my hiding place at the end of the alley and took another glance at the morph. Now he was walking in my direction with a curious look on his face. I cursed under my breath, things just got a hell of a lot worse!

I quickly scaled up the morph. He was about my height, possibly an inch or two shorter, and had similar build to me. It was now or never. Fight or flight, but I wasn't sure I could at least knock him out before he got out some sort of alarm. And attracting attention was definitely not the best thing to do if I want to get out of this place alive! Hiding would be by far the better choice if at all possible.

I took several steps back as I searched desperately for a place to hide. There wasn't anything but a few trashcans and it would take time to hide in one of them. Time, a quick glance behind me told me I didn't have. I could now see the morph's shadow on the sidewalk in front of the alleyway. Looks like I'm going to have to fight this one out!

I could now see almost the Pikachu-morph's entire shadow now. Took a few more steps back into the shadows of the alleyway as the morph finally appeared and cautiously started to walk in. He took a few more steps in my direction, but I knew that he couldn't see me because he was still looking back and forth. Apparently his eyes were still adjusting to the dim light. That's it, just a bit closer... closer... NOW!

I caught the Pikachu-morph full in the face with an uppercut. He yelped and stumbled backwards, and for the first time saw what he was up against. A five-foot eleven human with chocolate brown hair and brown eyes, wearing tan cargo pants and a dark green long sleeved shirt, and with a large backpack.

I didn't take any chances by giving him time to recover. Without missing a beat, I grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him face-first into one of the cement walls. I didn't expect him to get up so quickly, so the paw in my mouth was a bit of an unpleasant surprise for me.

"Take that you human scum!" he said as he smashed me across the face with some variety of a roundhouse kick followed by a knee to the stomach.

I let out a gasp of pain as I fell backwards over a crate and hit the ground with a dull thump. I quickly got back to my feet as the morph charged over to me. I ducked under his punch thrown at my face before countering with my own punch to his stomach followed up by a punch to his face. He staggered backwards and clutched his side where I had just kneed him before and his cheeks crackled with electricity.

"Thunderbolt!!" he yelled as he quickly extended his other arm and shot a bright yellow bolt of electricity out of his palm in the direction of my head.

I quickly leaned out of the way as the bolt shot past, before diving behind a trashcan as another thunderbolt hit the ground where I stood just seconds earlier.

"Is that all you got, human?" the Pikachu-morph asked with a smirk as he advanced on my position. "Face it, you're skills are grossly inferior to mine."

"'Inferior' can still kill you _morph!_" I shot back as I jumped up and hurled the metal lid of the trashcan I was behind at the morph like a Frisbee. The lid hit him square in the forehead and left him clutching his head in pain. Evidently that cement wall did more damage than I thought.

I quickly rushed over to the morph and threw him wall again. This time the back of his head slammed the wall. He grunted in pain and struggled to counterattack, but I pinned him to the wall with my left arm while continuing to deliver blows to his stomach with my right.

His bright red, furry cheeks began to spark again as he tried to use thunderbolt on me at point-blank range, but I denied him the opportunity by giving him an uppercut to his muzzle that left my hand hurting.

The Pikachu-morph's eyes widened and he just blankly stared into my face for several seconds, before his eyes closed and he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

I quickly looked out the mouth of the alley to see if anyone had heard the commotion and had come. Thankfully, it appeared no one had.

I wiped the blood off the corner of my mouth as I glanced back at the Pikachu-morph's still form that lay sprawled out in the alley before making a quick run for the alley across the street. Daylight was running out, and I still haven't gotten any supplies...

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TIME: 1800hrs.

NAME: Jim Matthews.

I hoisted my backpack higher over my shoulders as I sprinted down the street with somewhere along the lines of twenty pokemorphs in tow, launching various attacks at me and shouting various non-T rated words at me.

I lept aside, narrowly avoiding getting singed, as a pursuing Flareon-morph spat a flamethrower at me for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Dammit human! Quit moving!" the said morph shouted at me, which was slightly tedious since it isn't like I'm going to just roll over and _let_ them kill me. I mean, I hate my life, but not _that _much!

I hung a sharp right at the next intersection, followed by a quick left on the next in an attempt to loose the mob some 500 yards behind me. I looked back again to see if they had given up, only to be greeted by a solarbeam attack screaming towards me. I ducked as the white-hot beam blasted just inches over my head, before making another glance back as I ran.

The mob was slowly but surely shrinking as more and more morphs gave up the pursuit, but there appeared to be a few newcomers who had joined the pursuit. A Sceptile-morph and a Zangoose-morph were racing ahead of the pack and appeared to be closing the distance between me an them fast.

"This just keeps getting better and better!" I grumbled, as I used a lightpole to help myself turn yet another right.

By now, my energy was waning. I needed a plan, and fast because of the two morphs who had likely halved the distance between me and the mob in the past few minutes.

I cut back up a narrow alley and turned left when the alley forked in two directions. Then a right followed by a pair of lefts. I followed that alley all the way until it ended on a street. The same street that I had just exited only minutes earlier. A quick glance (coupled with the fact that I wasn't hearing "colorful" language and having attacks thrown in my direction) told me that I had successfully lost my pursuers.

Still though, I didn't want to be anywhere nearby if any more mob members had managed to trail me through the alleys; so after readjusting my backpack on my shoulders, I started heading south-west towards the catacombs.

It wasn't like the catacombs were far from the city. A good estimate would be just under 3 miles from the edge of Falmorph. Then it's a 3 ½ mile walk through the catacombs to Martha's Vineyard, my home. In all, that walk would take me about an hour and a half to two hours, which would leave me about 30 minutes before dark.

As I passed the old maple tree which was just under a mile from the outskirts of town, something struck me and I fell to the ground face-first. I quickly spun around to see a green, scaly morph with a large tail wearing tan cargo pants and a black leather jacket. Beside him was a furry white and red morph with sharp claws and a bushy tail dressed in similar attire. I recognized them immediately: the Sceptile-morph and Zangoose-morph who had chased me back in town.

"Well, well, well, look what we found," the Sceptile-morph cackled.

"It's the human who's been a pain in our tails for ages. Stealing things from hard-working morphs, dropping property values just with its presence, the list goes on and on," the Zangoose-morph chimed in.

"I wouldn't have to steal if you morphs would actually let us work and buy our own food! And I'm not an 'it', I'm a _he!_" I snapped as I got back to my feet.

"Quiet you!" the lizard ordered, pointing a long, clawed finger at me. "You wretched creatures don't _deserve_ to live! You don't have powers," the morph shot a solarbeam into a nearby tree to prove a point. "Your senses our inferior to ours! We have cities, a military to protect us, and a glorious empire! You just have slums and a false sense of hope that your puny Resistance will defeat our military and save the rest of your kind!"

I silently reached across my thigh and pulled my survival knife out from its sheath on my left leg. Unfortunately, the Zangoose-morph spotted me taking out my weapon and knocked it out of my hand with a slash attack.

I blocked his second slash with my left arm, wincing in pain as his claws tore into my skin. It didn't take long for his reptilian partner to join the party, and I had to duck as a razor-sharp leaf blade sliced through the space that my head had been occupying just milliseconds earlier. The Sceptile-morph's leaf blade instead caught his partner in the face and left a deep, jagged cut all the way across his face.

The Zangoose-morph recoiled away from the blow and let out a shriek of pain. As the morph just stood there, I caught him full in the jaw with a reverse roundhouse kick. I smirked as I felt his jaw crack under the force of the impact of my foot, and the Zangoose-morph fell to the ground, blood gushing from his nose and from the place where my heel had connected with his face.

I turned my attention back to the Sceptile-morph and hastily dodged another leaf blade, this one aimed at my stomach. My dodge, however, left me off balance and the morph capitalized with a pound attack to my face.

I grunted in pain as I hit the unforgivingly hard ground with a dull thump. The reptilian morph raised his green arms again as a pair of green blades appeared from the leaves on his wrists. Leaf blade. I glanced around for my knife to find it laying on the ground about fifteen feet to my right. I rolled out of the way of the morph's leaf blade attacks whose goal was to remove my head from my body, and scampered towards my knife.

"Oh no you don't! Bullet seed!" The Sceptile-morph said, and I immediately felt myself getting pelted with hundreds of bruising seeds. The force of his attack knocked me to the ground flat on my face. I reached for my knife, but the cursed green lizard used quick attack and knocked the knife out of my reach and clattering across the ground.

I struggled back to my feet, only to be met with a fist in my face followed by another to my gut and I suddenly found myself back on the ground again, gasping for breath.

"I shall enjoy watching you die!" the Sceptile said in an sinister voice. The morph then held out his hand and began to form a bright sphere in his palm. It was either solarbeam or energy ball. I clutched my side and looked back at my knife. It was lying right next to the kneeling Zangoose-morph who was trying to muster the strength to stand up less than ten feet from me.

I looked back at the hideous lizard. The solarbeam (I could tell what it was now) was almost charged. I looked back at my knife. I only had one chance!

"Die you accursed human!" the Sceptile roared as he shot the beam of energy from his hand. I dove out of the way at the last second in the direction of my knife. This time, I managed to grab it, and I rolled to my feet.

I slit the throat of the Zangoose-morph before he could even react, killing him instantly. I threw off my backpack, knowing that its weight would slow me down in a fight where speed mattered, and waited to see what the reptilian morph would do.

"Y-you... killed him!" he stammered.

I glanced back at the motionless form of the Zangoose-morph whose white fur was now stained red and was laying in a pool of blood. I couldn't help but feel sad about doing that and wonder if that was really the way to peace, but the Sceptile-morph continued.

"I'll kill _you!_" he shouted at me, his leaf blades flaring back up.

I held my knife out at bay as the scaly morph looked to make a move to attack me. He finally made his charge, leaf blades crossed about chest-high. I took a step back and intercepted his attack with the blade of my knife. Our blades (his of stiff leaves, mine of steel) met eachother with the sound of metal-on-metal.

The force of his attack knocked me backwards, but I kept my balance. "Heh. Not bad, morph," I told the morph with a small grin.

"You haven't seen anything yet, human!" he snapped back as he pulled his right blade out from the deadlock with my knife and swung it at my head.

I quickly grabbed his arm as it came around while I kneed him in the stomach. The morph grunted in shock as he stumbled backwards, but quickly recovered and came at me with a quick attack.

He hit me before I could even react, and the force of the impact knocked me into the base of a tree. I clenched my teeth to stifle my cry of pain and struggled to get back to my feet, but the morph would have none of that.

He quickly charged over to me and swung his left leaf blade down at me, to which I blocked with my knife in my right hand. What I didn't anticipate however, was him bringing his other leaf blade down. I hastily caught his fist with my left hand, stopping his leaf blade just inches from my neck. He shifted more of his weight to his right side forcing my weaker side to resist more force, inching the blade even closer to me.

"Dammit human! Why won't you die already?" the Sceptile coldly said, trying to hide the strain in his voice, but I heard it.

I grunted in response as I kicked him square in the chest. The morph stumbled backwards, the wind knocked out of him, as I climbed back to my feet. The wound the Zangoose-morph inflicted on my left arm was starting to affect how well I could use that arm. I already felt the blood trickling down my arm and into my hand. I had to finish this fight fast.

I rushed towards the morph who was still trying to catch his breath and tried to knock him off his feet with a kick to the back of his knees. He jumped, but not fast enough and I ended up catching him in the ankles with my kick and he fell flat on his back.

I scrambled over and plunged my knife down at the morph's chest, but he hit my arm with one of his arms and the blade only ended up hitting the morph's left shoulder. His scales were rather hard, but not hard or thick enough to completely stop the blade from creating a large gash across the upper part of his shoulder.

The morph punched me in the face with his other arm, sending me tumbling a short distance. We both got back to our feet gasping for breath. Me with a wounded left forearm, him with a wounded left shoulder.

"...You're not too bad... human," the morph remarked. "but this is where it all ends."

"For you, you mean," I smirked.

The morph brought his leaf blades up for yet another time as he charged at me again. Same old, same old. This time, I backed up until I was up against the familiar trunk of the old maple tree. This better work...

The morph swung his leaf blades at my head with as much force as he could muster, but I ducked under them and they instead got stuck in the trunk of the tree as I scampered away. The morph strained to pull them out, but the blades were stuck fast and my chance had come.

I quickly cut off the leaf blades on his arms with a swift swipe of my knife and the morph immediately recoiled in pain. I took advantage of this and punched him in the face. He tried to bring me down with a kick to the legs, but I slashed him across the thigh with my knife. The morph spun away from me and collapsed to the ground his stomach.

"It's over." I said simply, my face showing no emotion.

"Never! I'll never be killed by the likes of you!!" the morph shouted in defiance as he tried to stand up.

I just watched as the morph managed to get to his feet and limp in my direction, a solarbeam forming in the palm of his hand. As he took another step, I grabbed him by the shoulder with my left hand and stabbed him in the stomach with the other.

The morph's eyes widened as what had just happened hit him and I leaned my face close to his.

"I hate it when things end this way," I said sadly. "I really do. I never go looking for a fight, fights find me. And then there are those select few that turn deadly. If only those fights didn't have to happen..."

I withdrew my knife and the morph fell to the ground. One look told me that the Sceptile-morph who came so close to killing me was dead. I sighed in both relief and sadness as I walked back to the old maple tree and retrieved my backpack from the ground. I pulled the morph's leaf blades from the tree and set them down next to the morph's body.

They weren't any use to me since the leaves would wither and die in a day or two without them being attached to a living body. I never plundered from the bodies of morphs I had unfortunately slain, so I instead wiped the blood off my knife on a patch of grass and re-sheathed it before continuing my walk back to the catacombs.

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As I made my way toward my destination, I decided to look through my backpack to see what all was in the pair of grocery bags I stole. It wasn't like I could really _choose_ exactly what was in the bags, and today I had been spotted before I could get away, so I hadn't had the chance to see what all I managed to get.

I took off my backpack and peeked inside as I walked. Two loaves of bread, a sack of potatoes, dried beans, and a block of cheese. No water, but still a very profitable trip. Cipher and Megan would be thrilled when I brought this to them!

I made my way to an old windmill on top of a hill overlooking a former golf course near the sea. This was the entrance to the catacombs—or at least the only intact entrance I knew of. By now the sun was close to setting, but I could make it home before it was completely dark if I hurried. I took a deep breath before I opened the trapdoor on the floor of the windmill and climbed down the ladder into the catacombs...

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**A/N: **Not to bad of a chapter, if I do say so myself.

If you have any characters you want to submit to the story, just send me their name, age, appearance, species, and allignment (sides with the humans, morphs, neutral, etc). A character history would be nice too, but it isn't necessary. The characters can be morphs or humans, and they can have a pokemon. I'm pretty flexible.

Anyway, PLEASE review. Reviews make me happy and often encourage me to write faster!


	3. Brother in Arms

**CHAPTER THREE:**** Brother in Arms**

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DATE: 07/04/2042

TIME: 19:15

WEATHER: Fair

SUBJECT: Jim Matthews

AGE: 16

RACE: Human

LOCATION: The Catacombs.

I stepped down the first few rungs of the old wooden ladder and closed the trapdoor above me. I took a deep breath of the cool, musty air inside the dark tunnel and waited for my eyes to adjust, before climbing the rest of the way down the ladder and landing on the cement floor with a thump. I sighed as I felt around on the floor for the stack of torches we kept beside the ladder and smiled to myself when I found what I was looking for.

Using the dim light that came through the cracks of the trapdoor to see what I was doing, I pulled out my piece of flint from my pocket and struck it a few times with my knife, sending sparks onto the cloth-wrapped end of the torch. I had done this so often that this part was like second nature to me.

I smiled in satisfaction as the sparks ignited the kerosene-soaked cloth and the torch burst to life. I re-sheathed my knife and pocketed my flint before taking the lit torch and heading off down the dark, stone tunnels of the catacombs in the direction of home as quickly as I could.

Now, the Catacombs weren't _really_ catacombs. They were in actuality an extensive tunnel network built by the U.S. Military during the Great War against the morphs, that ran from the Massachusetts mainland to the islands off the coast and supposedly as far as Newport and Providence, Rhode Island. However, many exits have been sealed off and many tunnels are intraversible due to debris, and some tunnels have doors that require access passes that were lost or destroyed years ago. There are many tunnels that my friends and I haven't explored, but for now, this is the only operational tunnel to the mainland.

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SUBJECT: Jim Matthews

TIME: 20:40

LOCATION: Outskirts of the Ruins of Vineyard Island

I cursed mentally as I undid the metal hatch and climbed out of the Catacombs, into the middle of Ocean Park, a long forgotten and overgrown park just outside the Ruins. It was already dark. Just what I _didn't_ need! By now, my legs, shoulders, and every other part of my body was sore from my ordeal. My arm had stopped bleeding long ago, but my sleeve was still soaked with blood and my arm was still throbbing. And now of all times I have to trek through a ruined city full of people who would kill me just for one of the loafs of bread I was carrying. Wonderful. I really need to remember to leave before it gets late in the afternoon next time.

I turned around an looked back at the semi-concealed steel hatch to the Catacombs. Should I call it a night and sleep in the Catacombs? That would be my safer option by a landslide, but my sister Megan and my friend Cypher are waiting for my return... Ugh, fate is definitely not smiling on me today!

"Forgive me guys," I whispered to myself, "but I've been lucky enough to make it this far in one piece. I'm not going to try my luck when I've come this far with this much."

I silently climbed back into the dark tunnel and set my torch in one of the makeshift holders on the wall that Cypher and Megan had made for occasions such as this. I picked a spot a short distance away and sat down against the wall with my backpack in my lap. Exhausted from all the running earlier, it didn't take me long to drift into a dreamless sleep...

* * *

SUBJECT: Jim Matthews

DATE: 07/05/2042

TIME: 05:50

LOCATION: Outskirts of the Ruins of Vineyard Island

I awoke early the next morning feeling somewhat refreshed from the evening before. The torch had long since burned down to ashes, meaning that except for the flecks of light that peeked through the holes in the hatch, I was left in total darkness.

I stood up with a groan and climbed out of the Catacombs to see the sun peeking over the horizon. The sunrise was always a beautiful sight, but I didn't have time to just sit and watch it. I quickly took inventory of what I had in my backpack and upon finding that I still had everything I left Falmorph with, made sure I had my knife before hoisting my backpack over my shoulders and walking into the Ruins in the direction of home.

I walked down the center line of a wide, bomb-scarred road since we didn't have cars and the position provided a view of the whole street, reducing the chances of being mugged. One thing you learn living in the Ruins is to walk with your head on a swivel when carrying something because danger could come from anywhere. From behind the burned-out remains of a car, from the dark alleyway, from behind a cement slab that had fallen off a building, from inside a stack of lifeless bodies, from behind a tree. You never knew.

I followed that street inland, passing the empty remains of Oak Bluffs Harbor on my right. I stayed on the street for another quarter mile or so to an area that was more rural, before turning left onto a lesser traveled road and following it around the bend towards my house.

My house (or rather _our_ house), in reality, was a battered 3-story apartment building with a pair of rooms on each floor—with the exception of the first floor—tucked in a small clearing. It didn't have any glass in the windows and just had barren cement floors and walls furnishing the rooms. The plumbing didn't work, but that wasn't any different from any other building on the island and the building itself was in better condition than most buildings in the Ruins and we had made a fireplace out of stone that we used for cooking and heat in one corner of the first floor room. The building was raised about three feet off the ground with a concrete slab that was in remarkably good shape and extended several feet from the front wall of the building with an overhanging roof, so we called that space in front of our "patio".

I smiled as I approached my house to find a very familiar figure on the patio. A navy blue bird with a burgundy face and a white belly sat with a switchblade in hand, widdling a piece of wood and letting his bare, red feet dangle off the side of the patio. The bird wore an open green hunters vest and tan cargo pants. This was Cypher, my closest and most-trusted friend.

He was a hybrid as they were called by Morphs and humans alike, the offspring of one Pokemorph and one human parent. Most of the time, the Morph parent is able to conceal the hybrid for years, especially if the hybrid looks almost identical to a morph. This was Cypher's case, since aside from having smaller feet, he had fully developed hands just like you and me have—extremely rare for bird morphs, who usually only had three or four-fingered hands on the end of their arm-wings.

He still hadn't noticed me as I came up the dirt path to our house, or if he had, he didn't show it. I walked up the concrete steps to the patio and looked over to see if he'd notice me. Didn't look like it. He was still sitting in the same position with his long, navy-feathered tail extending along the floor behind him, still busy widdling away at a piece of wood. Quietly, I crept up behind him.

"HIYA, CYPHER!!!"

* * *

SUBJECT: Cypher Redfeather

DATE: 07/05/2042

TIME: 06:30

LOCATION: Ruins of Vineyard Island

"GYAAAA!!!"

I was on my feet and facing the source of that voice in an instant, wings out and ready to fight.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy, Cyph! It's just me!" Jim said, backing off a tad, but still wearing a huge grin.

"You moron! I could have tagged you with my knife!" I gasped, returning to a more normal stance and letting my wings fold back up against underside of my arms.

"Hahaha! You mean _that_ knife?" he laughed, pointing to my switchblade that was stuck into the overhanging ceiling several feet above my head. "It flew out of your hand when you jumped up! Oh man, the look on your face when I scared you was priceless!" he continued, giving me a playful punch on the shoulder.

"Not _again_!" I sighed, looking at my knife that was still vibrating with just under half the blade jammed in the ceiling. "Now I have to go get it unstuck!" I said, wiping my beak on my arm as I took a few steps back to judge how high it was to my switchblade. I hadn't ever bothered to measure how high the patio ceiling was, but it looked to be just over 10 feet from the ground to my knife.

It was at this moment that Jim's just-turned thirteen year old sister, Megan, decided to decided to see what all the commotion was.

"Oh hi, Cyph. What's with all the screaming?" she asked.

"Yeah, Cyph," Jim chimed in innocently, "what's with all the screaming?"

"Wise-ass," I muttered to myself, rolling my eyes.

Megan decided to change the subject.

"Um guys," she began, "how the hell did Cypher's knife get stuck in the patio ceiling?"

Jim grinned before opening his mouth, "Well--"

"Prank." I said, cutting Jim off to his obvious displeasure.

"You don't have to say any more, Cyph," Megan said with a grin, "I know _exactly_ what you mean. But how are you going to get your knife back?"

"Easy," I smiled, before lining up with the blade of the knife and taking a couple steps back.

I motioned for Jim and Megan to move out of the way and rechecked the distance to my knife. Still about 10 feet off the ground, but it had stopped vibrating now. Making sure my friends were out of my way, I took a couple steps forward and jumped.

I smiled as the knife came free in my hand. It wasn't like I wasn't expecting to reach the knife, I only needed a three foot jump to get it. Not a big deal for a Swellow-hybrid like myself, bird morphs are usually very good jumpers and I'm no exception.

I looked over at my friends to see Jim and Megan giving me a brief spatter of applause.

"I don't know how you do it, Cyph," he grinned, "but I do know that your trick looked really cool."

Megan nodded in agreement with her older brother.

"No tricks to it," I shrugged, "I just jumped up and got my knife. Nothing that exciting."

"Speaking of exciting," Jim said, shifting his backpack around on his shoulders, "wait 'til you guys see what's in this!"

He motioned us to follow him inside our house, me taking the rear and closing the battered metal door behind me. No sense the whole world knowing what he managed to grab.

Jim set his backpack down on a makeshift table and set the contents out beside it. A pound block of cheese. Two loaves of brown bread. A decent sized bag of dried beans. And a large sack of fat, brown potatoes.

"Wow, Jim!" Megan exclaimed when she saw what all he got, "How did you manage to get all that? We should be able to eat well for quite some time!"

"How on earth did you carry all that here, Jim?" I asked. "You have like 15 pounds of food there!"

"You know me," Jim grinned, as he placed the bread, beans, and potatoes in a cupboard under the sink, "I have my ways. Now who's up for some cheese?"

"Me!" Megan grinned.

"You bet," I added.

"Here, Meg," Jim said as he tossed the block of cheese to her, "You cut it. I haven't cleaned my knife yet."

"Uh, yeah, I'm sure we don't," Megan said, as she caught the block and unwrapped it.

We all sat down on the floor ash she cut it in half and further divided one of the parts into three equal portions that she distributed between the three of us. As we ate our share, she re-wrapped the unused half of the cheese and placed it in the cupboard the rest of the food for later.

The meal was finished in silence, all of us keeping an eye on the window to see if somebody was watching. Thankfully, we lived in a very quiet part of the Ruins in which traffic was extremely rare, so we didn't have to worry about getting ripped off nearly as much as most of the Ruins' population.

After we were done eating, Jim suddenly yawned very loudly.

"Wow guys, I'm tired!" he exclaimed. "I guess that last trip to Falmorph wore me out more than I thought. I'm going to take a nap before I head back out to clean up my knife."

He then yawned again, this time causing me to yawn followed closely by Megan.

"You know," I yawned, "that doesn't sound like such a bad idea. I didn't sleep too well last night since Megan stayed up all night waiting for you."

"Is there anything wrong with being worried about my brother's well being?" Megan protested.

"There is when your worrying keeps me me up all night!" I teased.

"Aww, c'mon Meg!" Jim said, "You know the morphs can't catch me!"

"Maybe, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about you when you go out," Megan conceded. "You're the only family I have left."

"You have Cypher," Jim said, "he's like family."

I couldn't help but smile inwardly when I heard that remark. I could honestly say that it felt good to hear that. I hadn't felt loved for what felt like eons before Jim and Megan quite literally saved my life. They took me in, and despite distrusting me for a while (understandably, since morphs aren't generally trusted by humans and hybrids are usually hated because they are part morph), took care of me when they could have just left me, beaten both emotionally and physically, to die on that beach... After all, my father's kind attacked their kind, killed their families, destroyed their homes, showed no mercy. What reason did they have to show any mercy to me?

Hell, Jim could have just slit my throat and left my corpse there, I wasn't even conscious and certainly couldn't defend myself! He and his sister didn't know anything about me, but they rescued me anyway. I... could never even come close to repaying them for that... But that still won't stop me from trying... That's why I'm always working on something... I just want to do something to repay them...

"Cypher?" Jim's voice snapped me back to reality.

"Hm?" I responded as I glanced around trying to figure out where they went. I finally found them standing at the base of the stairs and ran over to them.

"We're going to get some sleep," Megan said, "Weren't you coming?"

"Oh... yeah!" I answered quickly, "Sorry, I must have been day dreaming!"

"We noticed," Jim grinned as I followed them up the stairs to the second floor.

We all slept in the same room on the second floor. It wasn't because there weren't enough rooms in the house, on the contrary we had three whole rooms (one on the second, two on the third floor) that we didn't really use. We all slept on makeshift beds in the same room for protection sake, in case someone tried to attack us while we were sleeping, odds are one of us will hear the intruder and alert the others.

I laid down in my bed in my usual position on my side, using my arm-wing as a pillow. Despite it being bright in the room from the morning sun, I was overcome with fatigue from the night before and fell asleep quickly. I didn't wake up for a long time...

* * *

TIME: 15:30

SUBJECT: Jim Matthews

LOCATION: Ruins of Vineyard Island

I woke up late in the afternoon feeling very refreshed. I sat up in bed and looked at my companions' beds. Megan's bed was empty and the sheet was neatly folded at the foot, looks like she was already up. My glance fell over to Cypher who was still sleeping peacefully in his bed against the far wall with his long tail jutting out behind him. It didn't take me long to remember that I still needed to clean up my knife, so I quietly got out of bed and walked downstairs, leaving Cypher to sleep.

As I suspected, Megan was already awake, and was sitting out on the patio just under the window. I walked outside and after a short time she turned her head and smiled at me.

"Finally awake?" she asked.

"Yup." I responded. "I'm going to head out to the beach to clean up my knife and enjoy the water in a little bit."

"That actually sounds like a nice idea," Megan grinned, "I think I'll join you. Is Cypher coming?"

"He's still sleeping upstairs," I answered. "Do you think we should wake him?"

"We should at least ask," she responded, "he'd probably love to come. I don't think he'll mind us waking him up too much. And besides, what if he wakes up and finds us gone?"

"Good point," I conceded. "I'll go wake him up."

"I'll come too." Megan said, standing up.

We headed inside and back up to our bedroom to find Cypher still sleeping quietly in his bed. I reached out to rouse him, but hesitated feeling slightly bad for what I was about to do. The poor guy hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and now here I was waking him up now. But, he would probably worry if he woke up to find us gone...

I reached down and shook his shoulder gently.

"Cypher, you awake?" I asked.

He sat up with a yawn and rubbed his eyes.

"I am now," he groaned.

"We're going to the beach for awhile," I told him as the fifteen year old hybrid stretched and yawned again. "Do you want to come?"

"Yeah sure," he said, lifting his brown eyes to meet mine, "Just gimme a second to wake up."

"No problem," Megan and I said, identical grins on our faces.

A short time later, we began the relatively short walk down to the beach across the street from Ocean Park. The walk was uneventful, and we all enjoyed our time playing in the surf. Even though life in the ruins was tough, we enjoyed our outings to the beach. They provided an excellent opportunity to just go out and have some fun! We didn't have bathing suits or the like, so we just swam in our underclothes, without a second thought. My fathers might have frowned on this back before the war, but none of us could see what the problem was.

Anyway, after enjoying our time in the waves and cleaning my knife in the water, we got dressed and headed back up the road from whence we came. We walked north from Ocean Park without event, but that changed as we walked past the harbor.

"Please!! Somebody help!!!" a teenage feminine voice cried from somewhere in the harbor, stopping all of us in our tracks.

I glanced over to my companions and the expressions on their faces told me they heard it too. Cypher took a few steps in the direction of the voice and motioned us to follow. A different, deeper voice mumbled something indecipherable followed by a strangled yelp, before we heard the feminine voice again.

"No... Please just leave us alone!!" it pleaded, much closer this time.

All three of us pulled out our knives as we crept around the side of a large warehouse, heading inland. Cypher peeked around the corner and promptly signaled us to stop. He then motioned for us to look around the corner. There in the middle of the street, five guys stood threatening a girl curled up on the ground clutching a loaf of bread.

The girl had very long dark brown hair, deep green eyes, wore a tattered blouse, and pants that had the knees torn out. She looked to be about sixteen, but didn't appear to be that tough and seemed too afraid to fight back.

"Now hand over the bread and we won't hurt you or do you want to end up like your friend over there!!" the tallest guy who I had the feeling I'd met before threatened, gesturing to another girl that was sprawled out on the ground in a motionless heap.

"It'd be a shame if we had to waste a pretty girl like yourself," another guy smirked, voice hauntingly calm.

I ducked back against the wall of the warehouse next to Cypher and Megan. I looked at my friends. Cypher had his wings open and his knife in one of his hands, ready to fight. Megan stood beside him at the ready, I nodded my approval, and Cypher silently flew up to the roof of the warehouse.

"I'm loosing my patience, girly!" the vaguely familiar guy bellowed at the quivering girl. "I'll give you to the count of ten to hand the bread over. One, two, nine, te--"

Cypher crashed down on top of the guy and smashed him in the face with his Steel Wing attack as Megan and I jumped out.

"Didn't your mama ever teach you not to rob people?" Cypher asked sarcastically as he leapt back to defend the terrified girl from possible attack.

The guy that I recognized and Cypher smashed into the ground was apparently the group of thug's leader as they all scrambled to help him up, calling him "Boss".

When the guy finally made it to his feet, blood trickling from his nose, he glared at Cypher before noticing me.

"Why if it isn't that meddling Matthews and his motley crew!!" he said, venom in his voice. "I see you've gotten much bolder since last time. And you still have that damned halfblood following you around like a lost Vulpix!!" he continued, gesturing to Cypher who visibly winced at his words. Suddenly I recognized who it was.

"How repulsing to see you and your louts again Harley Tucker!" I shouted back.

"Likewise Matthews," he countered. "Now just run along and mind your own business! Or will we have to force you to leave."

His lackeys quickly took up a fighting stance beside their leader. Two of them had knives, and Harley had a large dagger.

We didn't wait for them to surround us, instead, we made the first move. Cypher smashed one of the lackeys in the face with a Steel Wing and knifed the guy in the chest, killing the lackey immediately. He went after another lackey without missing a beat.

Megan quickly took on the other unarmed lackey, tackling him to the ground.

I instead went after Harley. At six-foot-four he stood tall over just about everyone. Couple that with his huge muscles and you had a very intimidating looking guy.

He swung his dagger at me, to which I ducked under and went to counter with my own knife, but Harley caught me full in the face with an uppercut, knocking me flat on my back. Before I could even react, he kicked my knife out of my hand and across the pavement, before plunging his huge dagger at my body. I barely managed to roll out of the way as the dagger plunged deep into the pavement and got stuck.

I didn't give hulking Harley a chance to pull out his knife, I put everything I had into a monster tackle that took us both to the ground. Harley grunted in pain, allowing me time to look at the girl who was amazingly still sitting right where she was when we attacked Harley's gang, too scared to move. Cypher was busy taking care of the two armed lackeys while Megan was trying her best against the other one. I looked at the girl who was laid out on the pavement, surprised when she moved. She was still alive!

Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten about Harley, but I remembered the task on hand as soon as he punched me in the face. I fell off of him and got to my feet in time for him to pick me up by the throat and slam me into the metal wall of the warehouse.

Black spots clouded my vision as I came close to passing out, but I held tough and kicked the bastard right where it counts. Not exactly the most honorable thing to do, but allowed me time to escape.

I scampered for the nearest knife, which happened to be Harley's dagger, but found it to be stuck fast, so I quickly lunged for my knife which was just a couple yards further away. Just as I thought I'd reach it, however, Harley tackled me by the ankles causing me to fall with the knife just inches from my reach.

I quickly kicked free and dove for the knife, but I bobbled it and it clattered once again out of my reach. I got up yet again, but my opponent punched me in the back and I fell to the ground hard, gasping for air. Harley stamped his heavy boot on my back, pinning me to the deck.

"Not bad, Matthews," Harley sneered, "but you still are no match for me! And this time, you won't be escaping alive!!"

He shifted his weight slightly so he could get my knife, allowing me a window for escape that I gladly took. I ducked under Harley's wild swing of my knife, feeling the rush of air across my hair, and put some distance between me and him. Unfortunately this maneuver took me further away from my friends and thus, help.

By now, almost every movement caused those black spots to appear in my vision. I could fight them back for a bit longer, but it was only a matter of time before I succumbed to unconsciousness. Blood was trickling from various cuts and scrapes on my face and body, and the cut on my left arm was really starting to have an effect on my ability to fight.

Harley came at me again, but the spots clouded my vision and I was unable to tell where he was until too late. He came crashing into my battered body yet again, this time I my body came down on the curb. I screamed as pain shot through my back and I suddenly couldn't breathe.

I tried desperately to muster the strength to fight Harley off of me and escape, but my fatigue combined with the extreme pain made it impossible.

"I shall enjoy watching you die, Matthews!!" he cackled.

My life flashed before my eyes as time slowed down as Harley wound up to finish me off with my own knife...

* * *

**DISCLAIMER:**

**I haven't told the character's names yet, so I'll try to do this without giving too much away while still giving the rightful owners recognition. Please note that the characters haven't been named yet in the story, but they still have made an appearance, so I'll give them a full disclaimer.**

**--Marian O'Neal belongs to Johto Gunner004.**

**--Sari Hart belongs to EeveeCelebi749.  
**

**Thanks so much for sending them in! I really appreciate it.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES!**

**Sorry to everyone I had told the chapter was going to be longer. It was going to be, but this morning I realized that this chapter was progressing slower than I thought and I wouldn't make the deadline I set. So I split the chapter. Please don't kill me.  
**

**Sorry to those people I told the next chapter would introduce the American resistance, because there will be at least one (possibly two) more chapter between now and then. But most of you guys are writers out there, and I'm sure many of you have been in my position before. On the bright side, I have a 1.5k headstart on my next chapter without doing any work! =D**

**Anyway, remember to REVIEW! I can tell you that reviews motivate me to dedicate more time to writing the story. So in other words, the more reviewers, the faster I tend to update.**

**~Sky**


	4. Maxed Out

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! (Yeah, I'm three days late, I know.)  
**

** Sorry for such a long delay between this chapter and my last. It's been a hectic couple months for me, so I didn't have the time to work on the chapter until recently. I've switched to a third person style of narration now, so I won't be juggling between characters in first person anymore. The third person will mostly focus on a particular character each chapter, but it will no longer be limited to just one individual at a time. Eh, you'll see how it works soon enough.**

**Now, to explain my new headings like the one in bold right below this note. I've borrowed Call of Duty 4's level headings and modified them to fit my story. The layout is like this:**

**"Chapter title"**

**Date-time**

**Character of emphasis, species**

**Location**

**Anyway, without further ado, here's the next chapter of Pokemon: Days of Ruin.  
**

* * *

"_**Maxed Out"**_

_**7/5/42 – 17:14hrs**_

_**Cypher Redfeather, Swellow-hybrid**_

_**East Docks, Vineyard Island Ruins**_

Cypher ducked as a knife cut through the space that had been occupied by his navy and red-feathered face a split second earlier. Cypher counter struck with an uppercut to the side of Joe Johnson's jaw, sending him crashing to the ground in a tangled heap. Joe scampered to his feet just in time to receive a knee followed by a left-handed punch to the face from Cypher, knocking him back to the ground and sending the knife clattering out of his hand and under a burned out car.

Joe immediately scampered toward the car in hopes to retrieve his knife, but his bird-morph foe was faster and cut off his planned course. Or so Cypher thought. Instead of stopping in his tracks, the black haired, fair skinned human rushed straight at him and tackled the much smaller bird-morph to the pavement.

Although Joe was more on the scrawny side for a human, Cypher couldn't shake out from under him. The desperate Swellow-human mix tried to slash Joe with his knife, only for the said lackey to catch his arm and wrench the switchblade free.

"Damn Halfblood," Joe panted, as he began to punch the helpless hybrid beneath him repeatedly, "you're more trouble than your worth!"

Cypher managed to block the first few punches with his free right wing, but Joe quickly pinned that arm down with his left hand and continued the assault with his right.

"Not so tough without your powers, are you now?" Joe smirked, as the repeated punches began to draw blood. His hand was smarting from the repeated impacts with the smaller bird's face, but he didn't dare stop. He already knew that Cypher—although smaller than most humans—could give many people in the Ruins a run for their money in a fight.

Cypher continued to struggle beneath his weight as the assault continued, but Joe could already tell that the struggles were getting progressively weaker. He considered stopping to let his opponent go, but then memories of how the Pokemorphs-whom Cypher's appearance favored-had forced his parents to fight eachother to the death for entertainment sake on the Far Side came into his mind.

He ruthlessly continued the assault the bird, savoring every moment as his blows tore feathers and skin off the Swellow-hybrid's face, leaving streaks of blood in their place. He wound up for yet another blow, when suddenly one of his fellow lackeys came stumbling back into him, knocking him off the bird, who immediately capitalized on the opportunity for escape and rolled to his feet.

"Dammit, Kyle," Joe swore as he and his fellow lackey untangled themselves from eachother. "You were supposed to waste the girl, not the other way around!"

"It's not my fault! She's tough! And she had a weapon, whereas I don't!" the larger lackey countered.

"Quit bitchin'! She isn't tough. Your skills just suck," Joe grumbled, paying no mind to Cypher who had reclaimed his weapon as well as Joe's from under the car, and Megan, who had joined him.

"S-Suck?"

"Yes, s-u-c-k, SUCK!" Joe shouted, before promptly being punched in the face by Kyle.

"'Suck' on that, ya' bastard!" Kyle laughed, as Joe crashed stumbled down the street..

Joe swore violently, chasing after Kyle's retreating form back into the heart of the ruins and well away from the heart of the fight.

"Well that was anti-climatic," Cypher chirped, wiping the stream of blood off the corner of his beak.

"No kidding," Megan quipped, "leave it to Harley to recruit a bunch of brainless thugs..."

"Speaking of which," Cypher interrupted, suddenly worried, as he searched around for what had become of Jim and Harley.

His fears turned out to be well founded, as Harley had his friend pinned against the sidewalk a good distance away, arm high and ready to skewer Jim with... his own knife? Without so much a second though, Cypher dashed across the considerable length in a matter of seconds with Quick Attack.

"I shall enjoy watching you die." Harley cackled, immediately before Cypher smashed into him, throwing the great lump off of barely-conscious Jim and sending the pair tumbling in an angry mass of feathers and flesh.

"You've got a pair, Halfblood; daring to attack me to save your friend," Harley grunted, as he and Cypher staggered to their feet.

"Your lackeys all fled on you, Harley. Pity you can never seem to round up some reliable help around here."

"No matter," Harley shrugged, taking up a battle stance, "I'll just waste you and Matthews here and now. Then I'll just plunder your supplies and leave your corpse where it falls!"

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves now, Harley," the bird hybrid smirked. "You gotta kill me first."

Harley threw a powerful punch in the direction of Cypher, only for the much smaller and more agile bird to lean out of the way with ease. The navy and red bird skillfully dodged Harley's continued assault of a left, a right, and a left, as he began to get the slightest inkling of a plan.

_There's no way I'm going to out muscle him,_Cypher thought as he dodged another right hook, _but maybe I can wear him out or taunt him into doing something stupid._

He leaned back out of the way as Harley swung Jim's knife at him, the blade coming within a hair of Cypher's throat and grazing his shoulder. Then he jumped clear over Harley as the fiend tried to sweep the morph-human mix's legs out. Without missing a beat, Cypher began his own attack on Harley as he turned to face him. Cypher struck out with a right handed punch, followed by a left and a pair of rights, sending the fiend staggering, but not to the ground.

As Harley struggled to regain his balance, the feathers on Cypher's wing-arms took on a metallic glean that rapidly spread all the way from his shoulder blades to the tips of his fingers, turning into a Steel Wing attack. Cypher lept several feet into the air, and readied to bring his steel plated arms crashing down on the thug. Harley tried to perry the blow with his—or rather Jim's—knife, but Cypher was prepared, knocking the weapon out of his hand with his left wing before striking Harley full in the chest with his right, the impact making a sickening crack as ribs met steel.

Harley crumpled to the ground immediately, whereas the force of the collision knocked Cypher onto his back, over his head and finally onto his stomach several feet from the point of impact.

_Damn, that was like punching a freakin' wall!_ Cypher thought as he got himself organized and to his feet again, his right shoulder throbbing from the impact.

Harley took slightly longer, finally rising to a standing position clutching his side in pain. Just when it looked as if the brawl would go another round, Megan came to give Cypher backup having finished checking on her unconscious sixteen year-old brother.

"So you want to go another round, eh, Harley," Cypher grunted, resisting the overwhelming urge to clutch his aching shoulder.

_Gah, I really messed up my shoulder this time,_ he thought. _I'm going to feel that one tomorrow, if I make it that long._

"But can you take on two of us alone," Megan added to the end of Cypher's challenge.

Now Harley was never one to turn down a fight—especially if there was pride involved, but he knew that Cypher's hit, although a lucky one in his mind, had done some serious damage. And the blasted bird—by far the better fighter of the two—didn't even look any worse for wear from their spectacular collision, although in reality it was quite the opposite. As much as it killed him, Harley knew he didn't stand much chance.

"Gah, this time I'll let you go," he growled, clutching his wounded side, "but the next time we meet, you won't be so lucky!"

The victorious pair watched in silence as the fiend retreated into the heart of the Ruins, knowing full well that Harley would certainly try to get revenge eventually. They escaped with their lives this time, but would they the next? There wasn't any time to think about that now. Jim was knocked tipsy; and there was still the matter of the two girls they had rescued.

"Jim's pretty roughed up, but I think he'll be alright," Megan murmured, much to the hybrid's relief. "You go check on the girls we rescued and make sure they're okay."

"Alright," Cypher nodded, finally giving in to the urge to clutch his wounded shoulder. The left side of his face was beginning to swell from the beating it took, and his white down was now stained crimson.

Cypher glanced over to his fallen friend as he walked by en route toward the girls to see him manage to sit up with Megan's help. He had a steady stream of blood trickling out of his nose and mouth and his right eye was definitely blacked. Add to that the bruises that covered him from head to toe, and Jim didn't exactly look like the picture of health. Even for a living soul in the Ruins.

The battered bird-hybrid made his way to where the unconscious girl lay. She had amber brown hair, lightly tanned skin, and looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old. Her attire consisted of a dirty white shirt, with denim cutoffs and formerly white shoes.

He placed his fingers against her neck and was relieved to find she was still alive. Her breathing was faint, but she was definitely living. He quickly checked what he could see for any obvious injuries, she was bleeding from a bad gash across her forehead, the blood trickling down the side of her head and onto the ground; but thankfully it appeared that aside from the gash and being out cold, she was okay.

"Hey Meg!" Cypher called. "You got any bandages in your bag? She's got a nasty gash."

"Hold on, let me check," Megan responded, as she helped Jim to his feet and he propped himself up against a building. There appeared to be a brief verbal exchange between the two, before Megan left her brother and came trotting over with a cloth bandage in hand.

"Hey, I never said _you_ had to do it," Cypher commented as Megan began cleaning the wound with what little supplies they had and began applying the bandage.

"'If you want something done right, do it yourself,' that's what I always say," Megan replied with a grin. "Not to say you couldn't do it, but since I'm over here, I may as well."

"I suppose then I'll go see about that other girl, then," the Swellow-hybrid said nonchalantly, as he turned toward the warehouse that the other girl was huddled up against, still clutching the bread.

"You alright?" Cypher asked as he approached the girl.

"Please don't hurt me," the girl responded as she sunk to the ground clutching the loaf, her voice almost a whisper.

_The true effects of living in the Ruins,_ Cypher thought. _You can't even be sure that the reason someone rescued you was so that they could loot you themselves. Oh, the state of the world..._

"I'm not going to hurt you," the bird morph said, stopping a short distance from her. "I won't come any closer, if you don't want me to."

The chocolate brown haired girl narrowed her green eyes at the Swellow-hybrid, trying to decide if she should trust this person.

_He doesn't seem bad,_ she thought, _but he's a **morph!** They're the ones who are responsible for the current state of humanity! Can I really trust him?_

She looked over to where her friend lay unconscious, one of the morph's friends was hunched over her, applying a bandage to her forehead.

_Well, the girl seems to be a good person, and she trusts this morph... But can I? I doubt they would bother to give my friend help if they just intended to rob me, but what if this is all an elaborate ploy..._

"Are you alright?" the humanoid bird asked, cautiously taking a step toward her. She scanned him over again, she knew he was carrying two knives, from what she saw of the fight; but he seemed sincere in his concern.

"Are you hurt? Do you need help?" Cypher asked again, taking another cautious step closer.

"N-no, I'm o-okay," the girl stammered, finally deciding that the approaching bird wasn't hostile. He offered his hand to help her to her feet, to which she gratefully accepted.

"I'm Cypher Redfeather," the navy and red bird said with a small grin as she got to her feet. "I'm a Swellow-hybrid."

"My name is Mary O'Neil," the girl replied, most of her suspicion gone. "Well actually my name's Mirian, but I prefer Mary."

"Nice to meet you," Cypher grinned, reaching out to shake her hand.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SISTER YOU MORPH BASTARD!" a boy shouted, rushing out of the shadows.

"Max, don't--" Mary exclaimed, as the enraged boy slammed the already battered hybrid into the ground.

"Don't worry, Mary! I'll protect you from this morph scumbag!" the boy cut her off, drawing a rusty longsword from the sheath on his belt as Cypher rolled back onto his feet.

The boy was about five-foot-five, had chocolate brown hair like Mary, sky blue eyes, and wore old blue jeans and a dingy shirt, as well as what appeared to be a soldier's dog tag around his neck.

"Protect her from what? I just helped save her hide!" Cypher countered, as Max charged toward him.

Max rapidly closed the distance and swung his sword at the hybrid with the intent of making him literally a head shorter. The hybrid of course ducked, but Max was ready, smashing his knee into the bird's beak. Max swung at Cypher again with his sword, this time aiming for the bird's now-undefended body.

The bird-hybrid of course made a move to avoid the blow, but Max's aim was true, cutting through the bird morph's hunting vest and through the underlying flesh along the morph's already injured shoulder. Cypher instinctively clutched the area as pain shot through his shoulder.

"Max! Stop!" Mary pleaded with the boy, as Megan and even wounded Jim raced to help.

However, the boy didn't hear her. He was lost in his rage; taking the anger he harbored against the morphs for the pain they caused him out on the Swellow-morph that wasn't even a morph!

Cypher staggered back several feet, his shoulder on fire from the blow. Now blood was beginning to show through his thick vest, and he could already feel his strength beginning to wane.

At first Max hadn't thought he hit the morph, but after seeing the bird's expression and the dark spot appearing on its vest, he knew otherwise. He came across again with his blade, this time aiming for the bird's legs, hoping to take out the rest of its mobility. However, to his surprise, the damned morph jumped over not only the blade, but over Max himself and clear to his other side. Max spun on his heels to face the bird again, only pausing to size up his opponent's physical state after his initial attack. For the first time, he realized, that the morph carried fresh injuries from what he could only deduce as another fight—a very recent fight.

_So he was fighting with someone else? But whom? Mary didn't seem hurt, and we all know a beached Magikarp could outfight her..._ Max thought, doubt creeping into the back of his mind for the first time.

However, he quickly pushed these thought rushed at Cypher yet again, the hybrid backpedaling a good distance before loosing his footing and falling onto his back. The pain in Cypher's shoulder was almost unbearable upon the sudden impact of the unforgiving asphalt. He struggled to get up, but the effort was futile, as Max was now on top of him.

Max turned the sword over in his hand so he was carrying it in an ice-pick grip, the blade now pointing toward the ground instead of the sky. Max icily strode over to the morph and raised his sword to finish the fight once and for all, when he suddenly felt his weapon arm being restrained.

"Max, stop! He's one of the good guys! Don't kill him!" Mary pleaded, almost in tears, as she clung desperately to his arm.

Max opened his mouth and shut it again, eyes darting from his sister to the morph and back. "Marian," he protested, "He's a _morph!"_

"Max, he and his friends saved me and Sari from a gang of bandits! And there must be some good morphs out there, and the one you're attacking isn't even a morph anyway! He's a hybrid, and his name is Cypher!"

Max glared at his sister, then at the hybrid, who was being helped up by his two counterparts. The boy and morph locked eyes for a moment, both staring daggers at eachother. Then the bird's expression changed. The fiery rage in Cypher's eyes melted into a slightly saddened look of understanding. There was little Max had to explain that the bird had already pieced together.

Max had unknowingly left the girls behind as they trekked through the ruins to find a new home after a group had chased them out of theirs, and by the time he noticed they were gone and retraced his steps in search of them, the struggle between Jim's and Harley's groups had ended. Max had came through the alleyway just in time to see a morph reaching out toward a scratched up Mary, and assumed the worst. He reacted—no help from his dislike for morphs—before he had the chance to think things over. Now that he had the chance to think, he was beginning to regret it.

"Alright, if you say so, Marian," Max sighed, re-sheathing his weapon.

Everyone present let out an audible sigh of relief, but tension was still present.

"Sorry for attacking you... hybrid." Max said flatly, the thought of apologizing to someone who looked like a morph not really appealing to him.

"'Sorry' doesn't ease the pain any," Cypher grunted, some hostility in his voice as he clutched the area of the wound over Megan's protests to let her see it, "But it's better than being impaled by a longsword. 'Name's Cypher, pleasure getting my ass handed to me by you. Max, right?"

"...Yeah," Max responded, not really prepared for the response.

By now, the sun was beginning to sink under the horizon, the shadows of the buildings beginning to fade as night set in.

"Max, we've got to get going," Mary stated urgently, "We still have to find another place to stay, since those robbers chased us out; and Sari's knocked out, so it'll take awhile to go anywhere."

"I know," Max said, the situation suddenly seeming hopeless to him.

Jim's group exchanged glances amongst themselves upon hearing this. Jim looked to his friends, trying to read their expressions. He had no trouble deciphering what Megan's opinion was, however Cypher's was more difficult to read, and after what had just taken place, his was the one that really mattered.

"You think we should--" Jim asked, the other half of his question only audible to Cypher.

The bird looked thoughtful for a moment, looking over at Max and Mary, before looking back at Jim and giving a single nod.

"Hey, uh, Mary and Max, was it?" Jim asked, lifting his head to look at them.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to stay with us for the time being?"

* * *

**DISCLAIMER:**

**--****Max O'Neil belongs to Johto Gunner004.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:Well, I originally planned to continue further in my story this chapter, but this seems like a good place to leave off for now. Remember to leave a review, everyone. **

**Until next time, **

**~Sky**


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